Saturday, April 19, 2008

Today is moving day, kindasorta. It's been a while since I've posted so let me fill you in on some of the details.

For the past year, we had thought we would be able to move to Arizona and that Mark could work remotely for the "Huge Financial Institution Which Begins With a C". He would work from home, I would be with my brother and I would be out of this Godforsaken state of Ohio where it rains and is cloudy more than it is not. Well "The "C" has changed it's mind and will no longer allow remote workers from home. (Bastards). That dream of moving from Ohio to AZ meant that we did not do a lot with much of our STUFF, because we were going to be moving. It meant that I wouldn't buy new STUFF, because why pay to move it? It meant that not much redecorating got done until we were actually going to place the For Sale sign on the front lawn. Well that dream got thrown into the fire and life in Ohio must resume. le sigh

Six years ago we finished the basement area of the house and I had a wonderful sewing area. Bright and large, it held three tables, a large bookcase and all of my fabric. All of this is known as SEWING STUFF. But as the years have passed, my legs have been bothering me more and more and sewing down there had become uncomfortable. To the point that I would not go down the stairs for days at a time, sometimes stretching into weeks at a time.

From time to time I would have 'sewing days' at my house where Ann from up North and Margaret from Columbus would bring their STUFF to my house to sew and visit. I would get my sewing machine moved upstairs and the dining room became our retreat area. I noticed that I would get so much more done, not just for the company (which is a tremendous motivator) but because my comfort level was where I could deal with it. The only problem is my dining room became a mess. A sewing room is not a clean proposition. And then I would move all my STUFF back downstairs, only to abandon it for days again.

Fast forward to last week. I have finally bitten the bullet and purchased a Grace Quilting Frame. For the uninitiated, that's a huge system of rails upon which your sewing machine can glide and do fabulous whirly things. The frame will reside downstairs, due to it's large size and all the STUFF required for it. Got a new machine to ride the rails too - wooooo hoooo!

To make room for the frame I need to clean up the sewing area and fabric storage area. "Well, self" I said, "why not make the most of the situation?" So I am going to take over the extra bedroom and that will become the fabric storage/sewing area. This will allow me to sew without facing the stairs and yet keep my dining room for the purpose for which it was intended. Today Robin is coming over and we are going to start clearing out the extra bedroom to make room for my sewing STUFF etc.

I should add that for the past year or so, the extra bedroom has been The Tupperware Room. Yeah anyone who knows me knows I have issues with plastic food storage containers. I love them, I use them all the time and they have had the extra bedroom all to themselves. Wait! That's a lie! They have shared the extra bedroom with all the shit STUFF that gets thrown in an extra bedroom when you don't know where else to place it. All of that 'STUFF'. So the Tupperware STUFF will get moved to shelves in the garage, the STUFF in the garage will be rearranged

So you see how a simple task just snowballs until you wind up rearranging all your STUFF ?! maybe I'll take before pictures... not sure about that, though

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Ta-daaaaaaa. I finished piecing together the Oh My Stars! quilt today. This quilt is the pattern Stars in My Cabin from Fons & Porter July/August 2006)I started stitching this one at The Retreat on Februrary 23, 2008. Not so bad, considering it's been tax season. My new regime of finishing a top all the way out to the borders before setting it aside for sandwiching and quilting seems to be working for me. That's the second one this year, third if you count Donna's graduation quilt which is still out at Ann's being quilted.

here's a close up pic of the border

so let's see.... 1728 strips plus stars in the quilt center... 750 pieces in the border.. 60 strips making up the corners.. for a total of about 3228 pieces in this baby!Is it any wonder I don't have any fingerprints left? This one is intended for Robin after quilting as I don't know anyone who loves stars more than she. After all... she is MY star! I plan on outline stitching the stars and then making three concentric circles in the area where the dark parts of the log cabins meet.

Now on to dancing through my fabric bins. I'm cutting for 2 scrappy quilts - a Double Irish Chain and another star quilt named Starlights. Been through the greens and yesterday started the purples. When I get tired of cutting, I have a few quilts that could be bound - my least favorite part of the whole process, but the one that finishes everything.